Lego toys were originally made of wood, but ever since the Danish company began producing multi-colored, interlocking plastic bricks back in 1949, Lego has been beguiling and delighting generation after generation of kids (and adults) in many countries in the world.

Which of us doesn’t look back with nostalgia on the endless fascination of putting together plastic houses, tearing them apart, rebuilding them, adding new stories, new walls, new roofs and so forth.

There is a reason Lego has withstood the test of time.

Other toys are much more restrictive in their play possibilities and kids quickly bore of them.

Lego’s strength is its simplicity. Lego bricks hold children’s interest and attention for years and years. There are elaborate Lego sets where you get instructions for putting together a complex pirate ship, or lunar lander, amongst other things, but the most fun, to my mind, is derived from the good old-fashioned set of basic multi-purpose bricks which can be used over and over again to build pretty much anything you fancy.

Yes, Lego isn’t the cheapest toy available. But in the long term it’s probably the best investment in toys you can make. The bricks are practically indestructible. They will last a long, long time and will hold your child’s interest for years.

The name Lego was coined by the company’s founder, Ole Kirk Christiansen, a carpenter from Billund in Denmark, in 1934 when he was still making wooden toys. In 1940 he started producing plastic toys, and in 1949 brought out the famous interlocking bricks the whole world knows and loves as Lego. The name derives from the Danish phrase leg godt, meaning ‘play well’. An appropriate name!

Early Lego bricks were not very versatile, and their locking ability was limited. In 1958 the brick was extensively redesigned, and this is the form of Lego we have all come to know and love. Bricks from 1958 will still interlock and work with bricks from 2010. There is actually a very fine balance in the Lego system – bricks must hold together until pulled apart, but be easy to pull apart when required. They are manufactured to a very fine tolerance.

Some of the bricks are quite small, and you have to be sure your child won’t swallow them – for this reason the smaller Lego bricks aren’t suitable for children under the age of three.

Surely you will want to find out more about how Lego toys have evolved in the last 60 years.

For more information on this classic, timeless toy click here: Lego toys.

http://www.ultimatebuildingset.net

Building on the immense success of the ‘LEGO Star Wars’ series, gaming studio Traveler’s Tales stuck to a winning formula by once again combining the LEGO franchise with one of the most beloved film trilogies ever released.

No doubt also part of a cleverly constructed marketing campaign to have this game released alongside the latest Indiana Jones movie, it certainly bodes well for what will probably be another runaway hit for TT.

But have they done enough to warrant another exercise in a button-mashing, LEGO-building, puzzle solving adventure?

If you’ve played the ‘LEGO Star Wars’ trilogy, you will know exactly what to expect. It really is, in its purest form, another Star Wars game with a bunch of different characters and settings.

Is this a bad thing though? Not necessarily, but I for one would have liked to see a bit more innovation in the series. Sure, exploration and puzzle-solving take a slightly more important role in the Indy series, but for all intents and purposes the games are very similar.

Although we’re dealing for the most part with blocks here, do not expect to be amazed by the game’s graphical capabilities. A LEGO block is a LEGO block, and it really can only look so good.

But that doesn’t mean the game is an eyesore, or even remotely bad looking. For while all the characters, props and objects are made of LEGO, the backgrounds, foliage and buildings are not, and the game is a joy to behold in all it’s cartoony, colourful splendour.

Strangely enough, you would expect the game to run as smooth as silk when considering the fairly uncomplicated look of the game, but screen tearing pops up more frequently than is entirely acceptable. A deal-breaker? Not in the least.

LEGO Batman is equal parts crime fighting and crime committing. Half of the game you’ll play as the heroes, including such names as Batman and Robin. The villain side is a little more rotund, however, featuring everyone from The Riddler to the Joker. I wasn’t able to ascertain much of the story while getting some hands-on time with the game at E3 today, but needless to say the villains are trying to do evil and the good guys are trying to stop them. The story does progress with the same trademark humor that has existed in the previous games, featuring such situations as characters tumbling down a flight of stairs while running from the Joker.

LEGO Batman’s world is a mixture of Tim Burton and Joel Schumaker’s film visions. On one hand, the game is rather dark, but it features enough cartoony spunk and bright neon to make a player remember the days when the Batman suit once had nipples. During Batman’s segment in the game, I found myself jumping from rooftop to rooftop, chasing after Catwoman, and doing away with any mugger that crossed my path. The Joker’s portion was a bit more playful in terms of environment, as it featured a whacked out carnival complete with switches galore and even a giant Ferris wheel.

Leaning more towards the recent Indiana Jones game, LEGO Batman seems to focus a great deal on puzzles involving cooperation. During the Joker’s level, I found myself needing to split my costumed duo up, letting Harley work the upper level of a stage and the Joker the bottom portion.

As Harley came across a variety of switches, by stepping on each one she was able to let the Joker move along down the line to catch up with her, who was then able to return the favor by using machines and platforms to let Harley move through. It can be difficult to know when to switch back and forth when playing alone, but like previous LEGO games, LEGO Batman will have the option to allow two players to play the game together whenever they want. Sadly, much like the past games, there will be no online play options, relegating all cooperative play to local only.

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Gary Standford, 37, of Salford, spent more than £1,500 on about 500,000 pieces of Lego for the project – which he started 13 years ago.

The Maine Road ground, in Moss Side, was demolished in 2003 when the club moved to the city’s Eastlands complex.

But Mr Standford says he does not plan to replicate the new stadium.

He said that he dreamt of building the 3ft (91cm) replica when he was still at school and a big fan of Lego.

“I built a small-scale model but as I got older the Lego was put away in a box and I forgot about it,” said Mr Standford.

“For 12 years I never even looked at it. But when I moved into my own place I came across the box and found plans of Maine Road tucked away inside it.

“It was then that I decided to re-build a larger more exact model of the ground.”

Mr Standford worked on his replica about five hours a week and had to mould his own plastic for the more technical parts.

But like the club itself, Mr Standford’s model has endured a difficult history.

Potter bother

He had to bring the project to a standstill when the Harry Potter films stopped his supply of vital sky blue bricks from Lego in Denmark.

“When the Harry Potter films came out, the sky blue bricks were licensed for the Harry Potter model only – so I couldn’t buy them separately,” said Mr Standford.

“I had to adapt and also used burgundy bricks, the colour of City’s away strip, and took the bricks from the Star Wars models and figurines which were out at the time.”

He says he is thrilled with the final model even though the club moved to the City of Manchester Stadium in 2003.

“I was sad to see the end of Maine Road but I really like the new stadium.

“Despite it being a challenge and a real learning curve I don’t think I’ll be building a model of the new stadium as well.”

We’ve got some fond memories of our old Lego sets, especially after we perfected a design for a Lego-nightstick capable of dispensing Lego-justice on our Lego-playmates.
We might not have resorted to injecting violence into the Lego experience to keep things exciting if we were kids today and had our hands on Lego’s update line.

Lego announced today two new Battle Packs of characters and basic conveyances. Episode III inspired Droids and Clone Troopers will be available, each for $9.99. They might not be Leia in Jabba’s palace regalia, but they sure beat generic bald men with vacant smiles and yellow skin.

While some kids were home watching SpongeBob on Saturday morning TV, about 300 youngsters ages 9 to 14 were using small robots to test their knowledge of nanotechnology at Canton Country Day School.

The eighth FIRST LEGO League Nano Quest Challenge, which involved 18 teams of kids from across northeastern Ohio, culminated an eight-week project involving research, design and programming to compete in the regional tournament. The winner will participate in the FLL World Festival in Atlanta in April. Children from 34 nations will eventually compete on an international level.

“Every FIRST LEGO League challenge helps students discover how imagination and creativity combined with science and technology can solve real-world problems. This year’s focus on nanotechnology introduces them to a new frontier of science and technology,” said Dean Kamen, founder of FIRST, which stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.

The students used custom-built robots in timed competitions aimed at showing teamwork, troubleshooting and problem solving, said Paul Monks of the school at 3000 Demington Ave. NW.

“It’s very complex, but it’s fun to program,” said Nicholas Greene of Beachwood, who attended the competition last year. Teammate Joshua Cheston, who also attended last year, said, “the tasks and obstacles are a little different, but we chose a different design. That design worked.”

The competition was the fourth for Cathi Friddle, a home-schooled 15-year-old from Canton.

“I love it,” she said. “You can impress (the crowd), and you learn a boatload. The big thing is teamwork. And this year, we learned a lot about nanotechnology. We went to (Ohio University) and met with some of the professors.”

Beside her, Bailey DuBois, 13, also a home-schooled Canton resident, was competing for another team. It was DuBois’ third year.

“I like the competition,” DeBois said. “The presentations are fun.”

Presenting their work to the judges and a crowd was only one aspect on which they were judged.

The “missions” this year included manipulating individual atoms, testing stain-resistant clothing and operating a space elevator on a small platform with small robotic toys.

The news out of Copenhagen hasn’t set off worldwide panic yet, but it’s only a matter of time.

Blaming corporate restructuring, a spokeswoman on Tuesday said Duplo bricks and Lego City, Star Wars and Lego Technik sets could all be in short supply.

“Many of our most popular products are sold out,” Charlotte Simonsen told the Associated Press.

Surprisingly enough, local residents appear calm.

There were plenty of the pricey kits on Wal-Mart’s shelves two days after the announcement. An employee at Toys R Us in Framingham was actually adding boxes of Batman Lego sets to well-stocked displays late Thursday morning.

And there wasn’t a single crazed hoarder in sight.

But, as I said, it’s only a matter of time.

Even if this is merely a marketing ploy to boost sales, shoppers will eventually take the bait.

Once word gets out, there’ll be gaping holes in the Lego landscape and eBay hucksters will command top dollar for last year’s Harry Potter sets. By the time Christmas rolls around, parents will be paying $56,000 for black market Bionicles.

There’s only one way to stop the inevitable.

We pull together like our parents and grandparents did during World War II.

If the Greatest Generation could defeat the German army by saving scraps of tin foil, surely we can save Christmas and Hanukkah for our children.

And if you’re in a house or apartment where a child has lived at any point since the mid-1960s, you have all the pieces you need to be part of the solution.

We don’t need Lego to make more interlocking bricks.

The world already has all the Legos it needs, and then some.

No matter how many times a home’s been thoroughly cleaned, Legos lurk everywhere.

It doesn’t matter if your youngest child left for college in 1978. You still probably step on a stray Lego each time you walk to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

We’d never be able to capture all the itty-bitty plastic pieces hiding and multiplying like bacteria.

Then again, we don’t have to.

All we need is 10 or 20 per family to save our future.

Cities and towns across the nation could set up Lego redemption centers for the stray pieces, which would then be packaged willy-nilly in batches of 100 to create the All-American Hodgepodge collection.

Patriotic, n’est-ce pas?

But will kids go for it, you ask? All it would take is a lone instant message to a lone random pre-teen to launch buzz and fuel frenzied demand.

“Do U have A-AH?”

Since there wouldn’t be much overhead, the sets could be sold for as little as $9.99. And since most of us would gladly pay to get rid of the nettlesome little bricks, we could put the profits to good use.

There are a few constants in life—death, taxes, and perhaps we can add the annual release of a new Star Wars game to that list. And there’s a good reason for it: George Lucas’ epic space opera has a tremendous worldwide following and is set in a universe conducive to all sorts of videogames. So when the first Lego Star Wars game became a hit, with over 3 million copies sold, it came as no surprise that a sequel was announced.

The first game, actually published by Eidos, was more of a hit than anyone expected. The lighthearted humor, the simple and fun gameplay, and the large amount of replayability gave it a widespread appeal. When LucasArts reclaimed the publishing duties, they hoped the same magic would work again, this time with the beloved original trilogy of Star Wars.

We talked with Ilkay Can, Product Marketing Manager at LucasArts, about why the Force is with Lego Star Wars II.

I’ll give my guy Darth Vader’s head…

Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy had four different SKUs on NPD’s Top 20 games for September. The Xbox 360 version was third best selling on that system, and the PS2 and Xbox versions would have been the best selling titles on their respective platforms had it not been for EA’s Madden 07.

The GameCube version was far and away that system’s top selling title of the month. With success like that across SKUs, it’s no wonder LucasArts reported that over 1.1 million copies of the game had been sold across all platforms less than two weeks after the game’s September 12th release.